Northern Aurora

Are you boarding or disembarking in Seward? You will fly into or out of Anchorage. Celebrity offers transfers either by motor coach or a specially charter run of the Alaska Railroad. We have both embarked and disembarked in Seward and I know that when we disembarked that Celebrity offered a combo excursion which was a small boat trip in the bay (lots of marine wildlife) and then a motor coach transfer to downtown Anchorage. There also was an offering which included the bay excursion and transfer directly to the Anchorage airport. There are also private motor coach transfers, some which include a stop at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. During the summer the Alaska Railroad also offers daily passenger service between the downtown Anchorage RR station and Seward. And you can always do a one way vehicle rental. Seward itself is quite compact and easy to navigate. Pre-pandemic there was a shuttle bus which had a fixed route around the community. Also pre-pandemic there was a shuttle which made runs to Exit Glacier; I don't recall the price but think it was around $10. Also there are rental cars available. Despite the fact we live in Alaska we periodically do Alaska cruises. In fact we spent two weeks on the Solstice in June and were on the Millennium for two weeks last September (after passage of the Alaska Tourism Recovery Act). Which ports are on your itinerary? Some of the north bound and south bounds will alternate between Skagway or Icy Strait Point. The Millennium runs include Hubbard Glacier, which is a large tidewater glacier accessible by large cruise ships; it is impressive and is one which is advancing while in comparison the glaciers in Glacier Bay are in full retreat (ie, melting). I am not as impressed with Glacier Bay as some on the CC Alaska forum are.

Our OP's situation essentially happens to everyone. We turned Zenith on the second leg of a B2B2B, and enjoyed full Zenith perks on the third leg. When we first boarded the ship the Captain's Club hostess was already aware that we were turning Zenith on the series.

I love the Tea Forte iced tea at the Cafe al Bacio. It covered by the Classic beverage package. But I will also admit that I don't like sweetened tea -- just want the flavor of the tea itself.

@Chrisclaire: We spent two weeks on the Solstice in June and then 15 nights in September. We were in the same Sky Suite for both legs in June, and in September moved from a Celebrity Suite to a Sky Suite for the second leg. Bathrooms were in great shape but we did have an issue on the second Sky Suite in which one morning the water wasn't really hot. Our stateroom attendant called a plumber and it was fixed within minutes of reporting the issue.

Check the website for Triplelights. They design custom tailored tours based on your interests. Guides are not available in every city but are in several cities our OP mentioned. We have used them and were extremely pleased.

@VTgreentraveler: You will be happy with either the train or car rental to travel to Seward. There are also motor coach transfers. Seward itself is fairly compact. For example we have no problems at all walking from our preferred hotel (the Harbor 360) to the SeaLife Center. If you want to rent a car there is indeed Hertz. In a number of these small Alaska towns you will find that gas stations often have a good quality used cars to rent. Pre-covid there was a for fee shuttle ($10 ish if my memory is correct) from Seward to Exit Glacier (located in Kenai Fjords National Park). There also was a bus which had an established route through Seward in addition to PJ's Taxi. Alaska in general is experiencing a serious labor shortage including a severe shortage of folks who have Commercial Driver's Licenses. Use google to find the website for the Seward visitor's center and contact them for up-to-date information regarding the shuttle and car rental options.

We were on the first Celebrity Solstice Mexico cruise in October. Shore excursions sold both a direct shuttle to LAX and also a tour which ended with drop off at LAX for those with flights later in the day. We didn't use either so I have no idea regarding the costs.

Yes. @cruisestitch has compiled an extensive list of items and services which can be paid with OBC. About the only purchase which can't be paid with OBC is a deposit for a future cruise when booking onboard with a Future Cruise salesperson.

We much prefer Blu over the MDR. So we would book an Aqua Class stateroom on deck 11.

Menus for the specialty restaurants, such as Tuscan Grille, are standard across the fleet and when there are the rare changes the change will be again across the fleet. So yes, what you see now for a specialty restaurant will most likely be what you would see in a year from now -- unless there is a change or modification across the fleet. For menus in the MDRs (such a the MDR for a particular ship, Luminae and Blu) find a sailing with a comparable number of days. Celebrity has a 14 day menu rotation for non-specialty restaurants, so a 7 night sailing on one ship for Luminae will be comparable for a 7 night sailing on another ship. @IslaSarah is correct.

So glad your cruise went so well. If my memory is correct while you are an experienced cruiser that was your first Celebrity cruise. Which other cruise lines have you used?

Just a quick FYI -- For those interested in dining menus just check the Celebrity app. Find an upcoming sailing and folks will find menus to only only the MDR, Luminae, and Blu, but also the specialty restaurants.

Celebrity treats each leg on a B2B as a separate cruise. On Celebrity folks will receive new sea pass cards for each leg, even if they are in the same stateroom. Also unused non-refundable OBC will not carry over to the second leg nor will unused internet minutes.

Post #11 and #16, if I understand them correctly, are referring to the Kenai Fjords National Park. In addition to other glaciers it includes Exit Glacier and the Harding Ice Field. Day excursions are popular due to the abundance of wildlife. It is essentially accessed from Seward. There are some other day excursions out of Whittier. Check the Whittier visitor's bureau website.

While we've stayed at both I thought I would toss in another hotel to consider -- the Auberge. While we stayed at the Pan Pacific pre-cruise in April 2022 we stayed there at the Auberge several days pre-cruise in September 2022. We last stayed at the Auberge in 2018 and it was lovely. But since 2018 it has been re-modeled and we booked a one bedroom suite for less than a harbor view room at the Pan Pacific. The Auberge is about a 5 minute walk (mostly on a slight downward slope) to Canada Place.

All of these ports are in communities which have visitor and convention centers. Google is your friend -- just google something like Seward visitor center and you will find their website. Most, if not all, have downloadable visitor guides for their community. And the State of Alaska has one too.

At every embarkation there is a Pier Coordinator in the embarkation area. We often don't know that they are there, but they are. Our OP may want to ask the Retreat Concierges where that Pier Coordinator's desk is physically located at their embarkation port.

There are definitely different versions. And, at least some of the ships, post the different menus on a sign outside of the entrance so you can confirm which version is offered on a particular night.

While we have never experienced the situation our OP is in, I suspect that @Jim_Iain is correct. Once on board just have the Retreat Concierges give you instructions, but I suspect our OP and her sister-in-law will be meeting their respective spouses on board. Worst case would be to use your transit passes and meet them in the terminal.

As a comment from someone who has done six full transits -- I find the Pacific side much more interesting than Gatun Lake. On the Pacific side you really will get a sense of the amount of blasting which had to be done to create the canal. And as already mentioned you will see the efforts and maintenance to keep it going (ie, the dredging machinery).

Thank you to OrcaGirl for this great review. With somewhere around 60 Celebrity cruises I always enjoy the view of a relatively new Celebrity cruiser. We were on the September 24th cruise which was the first of the Mexico itineraries. We apparently were lucky -- we used Pier 93 to disembark. We were B2B with the preceding cruise being the Pacific Coastal re-position itinerary from Vancouver. We just stayed onboard on turnaround day but I believe the boarding passengers also boarded at Pier 93.

Early in the cruise (if my memory is correct it was the second night) a woman and her adult son entered Michael's Club on the Solstice. Neither Retreat Concierge happened to be in the room when they entered. However, when one of the concierges returned she very quickly realized that they were not in a suite and escorted them out.

While our OP has solved their issue I just want to comment, for people who use the search function and find this thread in the future, that Alaska is currently experiencing a severe labor shortage. And that shortage includes folks who have Commercial Driver's Licenses. In Fairbanks some bus routes have been limited. School districts are experiencing incredible issues with their school bus routes. And I believe the Anchorage municipal bus routes are also having issues. As previously noted the area round the train station is less than desirable at night. Don't try to take a bus from the rail station to the airport.

I have sailed out of the UK on Celebrity. Once we were on a B2B2B2B. The first leg was a transatlantic, and there were no electric kettles. The last three legs were out of Southampton, and we had kettles delivered to cabins for those legs. They just appeared magically on the first turnaround day.

Just a quick comment from someone who actually lives in Alaska -- consider doing the land portion of your trip as a DIY trip. Those cruise tours are a "one size fits all" concept which means they aren't tailored to your specific interests. Also be cautious of any trip which includes Denali National Park until the road is repair is completed. The single road into DNP was closed in August 2021 at an area called Pretty Rocks (approximately mile 42) due to ice rich land melting and moving down the face of a mountain. So the shuttle buses can't reach Eielson Visitor's Center (mile 66).